Chris Silverwood says England would embrace an earlier start time of 10.30am in the third Test

England would embrace a 10.30am start time for this week’s third Test against Pakistan to limit the number of overs lost to bad light and rain, says men’s head coach Chris Silverwood.

Only 134.3 overs of play was possible in the drawn second Test at the Ageas Bowl due to poor weather and gloomy skies, and the forecast remains unsettled for the series finale, which begins on Sky Sports Cricket on Friday.

England captain Joe Root suggested earlier this week starting the day’s play half-an-hour earlier than the scheduled 11am could help make up time lost during the Test.

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While Silverwood confirmed he has had “no official word” it would happen, he gave the idea his full support, especially given the series is being played behind closed doors.

“In my opinion it will probably be a good idea,” he said. “I know there is chat around it so we’ll just wait to see what they [the ECB] come back with.

“But there would be no complaints from us should it happen. We are all here anyway. It’s not like any of us are travelling so it wouldn’t be very hard to make it happen.

“If there were spectators in, you’d feel for them as well – the sense of frustration that you get when people have paid money to go and watch cricket.

“If it got out there that we were starting half-an-hour earlier then people would probably make an effort to get in half-an-hour earlier.”

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